Clouds
by EmilykaFairy
Summary: MC's name is Kana ; slight MCxBeckett that can be seen as frienship. Kana tries to prepare herself to fight against Raife Highmoore, but she is new to magick. She enters a desesperate state, not eating or sleeping to have the time to learn a lot. That isn't healthy and her friends are worried.


_**Disclaimer : I do not own Choices : stories you play (The Elementalists) nor its characters, which are the properties of Pixelberry.**_

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During Professor Ungland's class, Kana was restless usually, she would listen carefully to every instruction and advice from the teacher and take notes.

After all, even though she was a Sun-Att and maybe the most powerful Attuned that ever existed, she was still new to magick. She only knew a handful of spells, and trained every day to master each one of them.

However, it wasn't enough. Penderghast was some sort of elite school and every student was gifted in one way or another, may it be talent or because of their family. They all had what could be considered common knowledge about magick and this world that was so different from her own, and were msotly better at magick than an average student.

And here she was, ignorant about everything, she didn't even know what magick was when she arrived there.

She learnt a lot since then, but it wasn't enough : she was the prey of Raife Highmoore, a criminal and a powerful Blood-Att. He was so strong that her twin sister had to hide and train during her whole life.

Kana had to admit that she put her friends and her classmates in danger by simply existing. She didn't want to lose her cool and succumb to negativity, especially in front of Atlas, so she laughed it off, saying they'll find a way. She thought if there was a miracle such as being transported in a world where magick existed and reuniting with her long lost twin sister, then there might as well be a way for any problem to be resolved.

But as shadow monsters attacked more often, she began to have doubts, and somehow anxiety settled in.

She had to grow stronger.

Luckily, Penderghast was a school, and so she could learn more about magick without any difficulty. However, being lazy was not an option, as she was desesperate for improvement.

Her friend's lives depended on it.

As a result, she spent most of her time studying spells, magick in general, or reading about Raife Highmoore and blood Attunement. She also never forgot to practice any spell she learnt.

Moreover, sometimes Kana needed time to unwind, so she would go out with Shreya or Zeph and train for the upcoming championship with Griffin all that also helped not making them worried about her.

Kana was convinced she used her time well at least Atlas was proud of her and impressed by her efforts.

She had to work hard everyday to keep up the pace and so Kana listened to the class, concentrated on each word that popped out of the teacher's mouth.

However, her brain wasn't registering anything. She kept writing everything she heard so quickly that her wrist hurt.

She didn't bother with the teacher's questions and certainly didn't take a glance at Beckett, who was looking at her worryingly. He knew that she was behaving weirdly and that she was only pretending to be happy, and that he had to do something.

Actually, he had spoken to their friends about Kana's behavior, and they attempted in vain to cheer her up : Shreya took her to spas and glamorous restaurants, Zeph organised picnics, Griffin talked to the Thief coach about making her train less…

None of that had worked well, and in the end, it may have aggravated the situation.

But what could he possibly do ? He didn't have friends before, and definitely not someone dear to him.

As soon as the class finished, Kana finished to scribble the professor's word on her notebook and stormed out of the classroom, stumbling around the stairs. Of course, Beckett followed her and he instantly understood why she was so good at Thief : she was quick on her feet and ran fast.

The Sun-Att didn't bumped into anyone she came across, but Beckett did as he had trouble keeping her in sight. He called out to her multiple times in hope that she may stop, but it seemed she didn't hear him, or maybe she was ignoring him.

After a while, Kana slowed her pace and make an abrupt turn Beckett realised she had entered the school's library. She quickly set her things on a table and began studying, even though classes had just finished for the day.

As much as he found that inspiring and very clever, it made him a little sad maybe because it reminded him of his past self, who was desesperate for success.

Beckett approached his friend very carefully to not surprise her and cleared his throat to make his presence known. Thankfully, Kana heard that and turned to face him.

'Oh, Beckett', she began with a forced smile. Didn't know you were there. Although it isn't so surprising…'

She trailed off, which was quite unusual as she liked being direct. That was another sign that something was up.

'I…', Beckett stuttered a little. 'I wanted to talk to you. About something. Of course, if I have to talk, it would be better to be about something. It just… Involves you. Yes, that's all.'

This time, Kana didn't act weirdly and let out a laugh, as usual when Beckett had trouble expressing his thoughts. Everytime he did that, she wanted to say out loud that he was cute, but suppressed herself, because he wouldn't taking that well. She could imagine him fuming, his face red as a beet.

However, his face was already red from embarrassment.

'Yeah, sure', she laughed, 'what is it about ?'

Now that Beckett was here, he didn't know where to begin. Confronting her directly could lead to multiple possibilities of response : first, she could deny it firmly, second, she could laugh it off and say it's nothing, and third, recognise it and ask for help.

He wanted to believe that he could predict Kana's behavior however, the truth was far from that. He always ended up surprised by her words or attitude, and figured now wasn't an exception.

Beckett feared confronting her too directly would cause her to be even more reluctant to tell him what was goin on, a softer approach would be better.

'Well, I noticed that you seem really passionnate about your studies lately. You have been always interested on learning new things, particularly about magick, but you are… almost restless now.'

Kana's face darkened a little, her brows furrowing in distress and her smile disappearing. As

usual when she was nervous, her hands moved everywhere, putting her shirt in place, then

playing with a pen…

She felt in Beckett's intense gaze that he obviously noticed her change in attitude and wanted answers, and would not be distracted by any small talk she could think of.

Furthermore, she didn't like the idea of lying to a friend, especially to him, who learned of friendship only recently and yet occupied a special place in her heart, though he wasn't aware of it.

'It's okay, Beckett', Kana sighed, 'I am not desperate. I only want to learn more about magick… To protect myself in case more monsters come after me. I'd like to face them off alone, and to do that, I need to grow stronger.'

She smiled, looking falsely confident, 'See ? That's all, really.'

Beckett felt his eyes twitch dubiously ; he didn't doubt that she was telling the truth, or, half the truth at least.

After all that happened to her, he could understand why she would want to fight against shadow monsters on her own.

She had the right not to feel secure as those beings were capable of attacking her in the school, and she couldn't rely on teachers as well. Anyone would be terrified, but she had the courage to go in class like any other student.

Of course she would be concealing her fear everyday.

She was brave to beging with, but it was too much for even her to handle.

She didn't have to pretend to be fine or stronger than she actually was in front of the friends who swore to protect her when they came as Pend Pals - or whatever they were named.

'You are already strong, Kana', Beckett began, his gaze softening. 'It's okay to feel insecure or panicked, giving your situation. I understand that you try to keep your cool in any situation, and it is admirable.'

'You don't have to be ashamed of yourself. It is natural to be scared. Also, I… We are here for you. We worry because we care about you. You're not helpless.'

Kana listened to her friend with attention, as he adressed every worry that had come to her mind.

She supposed Shreya, Griffin and Zeph had talked to him about her change of behavior, and that they had discussed it.

She couldn't stop a smile from growing on her face : somehow, her friends cared about her in the most adorable way. She felt happy to have such good friends who were ready to face danger to be with her.

'I know, Kana said, 'but that'e exactly for that reason that I have to learn and practice. I shoudn't put you all in danger and rely too much on you.'

Beckett sighed ; why couldn't she understand ?

Of course, friends normally didn't put each other in danger, but that was not the case here. She was in danger, and didn't want to, it wasn't her fault. She didn't even know why monsters kept attacking her at first !

Beckett didn't know much about friendship and what being friends meant, but he had read stories, works of fiction. Although he was aware that much was exagerated in those, it seemed that real friends supported each other not only in time of joy.

Friends were supposed to help each other when things get difficult and not to run away.

'That's why we are here', Beckett argued, 'You can rely on us ; so you can take your time. That may sound strange coming from me, but you shouldn't rush ; or you will make mistakes.'

'If you want to hurry up and learn', Beckett added, 'you can count on me.'

Kana's eyes lighted up ; it seemed her friend understood her position and didn't bash at her. On the contrary, he offered a softer approach.

She had to admit that she could ask for help with studying or other things ; she didn't have to choose between being all alone and making her friends doing everything.

She could fight alongside them. It was as simple as that, and yet she never thought about it.

'Thank you, Beckett', Kana finally concluded, 'I… really never thought about that possibility.'

A smile returned on Beckett's face, as he was glad that she understood, and more than that, accepted it. She didn't try to deny anything.

'Well, now that's it settled', the young man added, 'I think you should call it a day. Wanting to study right after class is an efficient way to review what you have learned, but you have bags under your eyes and look awfully tired.'

Looking surprised, Kana touched her face, near her eyes, and noticed the creases Beckett was talking about. In fact, her whole body felt sore and hungry ; she had no idea she was so exhausted.

She guessed it was because she became so passionate : she didn't really listen to her own body.

'Okay, what do you have in mind ?', she asked.

'Well, I was thinking…', Beckett stuttered a little, 'that you could come with Shreya and Zeph to Penn Square, apparently they are testing new spa-related products. They both claimed that it was 'the most calming thing ever'.'

'Oh, that sounds great', she beamed, 'and you could come with us, I presume ?'

'Um', muttered Beckett, surprised again, 'I would like to. I mean, if you want. That is, if you are certain.'

Kana laughed ; how could someone be so adorable ? She was well aware that he could cheer her up in a few seconds. Seeing him like this was like getting hugged by a giant teddy bear and it warmed her heart.

He had changed so much.

A smile on her face, she cleaned up her things and got up, calling Shreya on her way to meet up at Penn Square. Her friend sounded overjoyed on the phone, as if she was waiting for this occasion.

Maybe relying on her friends wouldn't be so bad.


End file.
